Meter.



STA rAg-ENToFFIoE.

MARVIN SMITHEY, OF LAWRENCEVILLE, VIRGINIA.

METER.

- To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, l\l.\ll\'IN Starrnny, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of Lawreneeville, in the county of Brunswick'andStateof Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMeters, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is an improvement in meters, and the invention has for itsobject to provide a meter for use with n'iotor-vehi- 'cles, whereina'supporting casing is provided in which is mounted a speedometer, and aseries of odometers, arranged in series with their axes pa allel, thecasing having a reading opening for each odometer, together with acommon driving means for all of the odometers for operating them insynchronism, and wherein each odometer is provided with means extendingoutside of the casing for permitting the particular odometer to bedisconnected from the operating means and to be reset, and whereinadjacent to each reading opening a legend is arranged, identifying theparticular odometer with certain essential operatingele of the improvedmeter; Fig.

ments of the vehicle, and with certain essential'operationsto beperformed about the vehicle. v

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a face view 2 is a section on the line 22of Fig. 3; t-ion 0n the line 3?) of Fig. 1, is an enlarged detail view,partly in section, through the operating mechanism for the speedometer.

In the present embodiment of the invention, acasing is providedconsisting of a ed engagement with the body.

cup-shaped body 1, externally threaded at its upper end, and a coverplate 2, resting on the upper edge of the side wall of the body, andcovered by a disk 3 of transparent material, as for instance, glass, thedisk and the plate 2 being held in place on the body by means of a bezelring 4 which has thread- A speedometer of ordinary construction isarranged within the body ofvthe casing,.

near the bottom thereof, the particular construction of the speedometerforming nopart of the present invention, and for that reason not shown,and the speedometer is connected to an indicating hand 5, arranged onthe upper surface of the plate 2, between the same and the disk 3 oftransparent material. The hand or indicate 5 is connected Specificationof Letters Patent.

Fig. 3 is secand Fig. 4-

Patented Sept. 26, 1916.

Application filed January 18, 1916., Serial No. 72,794.

with the upper end of a shaft (3, which is operated by the operatingmechanism arranged within the'body.

A number of odonieters 7, fourteen in the present instance, are mountedin the casing, between the plate and a partition plate H, which isprovided with a marginal flange 5) fitting the inner face of the body 1of the casing and secured thereto by means of screws 10 passing throughthe flange and en gaging the body.

Each odometer consists of a series of number wheels, mounted upon ashaft 1], which is journaled at its inner end in one of the arms 12 of asubstantially U-shaped bracket, consisting of the said arms and a body13. The bracket is arranged diametrically of the casing, and secured tothe side wall of the body by means of screws it which are passed throughthe body and through angular lugs 15 at the ends of the arms remote fromthe body. Thus the arms 12 of the bod are held parallel with each other,and with a diameter of the casin At there outer ends the shafts extendthrough the side wall of the casing, and are journaled in bearings 16connected with the side wall and extending on opposite sides of thesame, and e: h shaft 11 is provided with a resetting knob or head 17'outside of the casing.

The shafts 11 are connected to the number wheels of the odometer-s inany usual or desired manner, and in such manner that by turning theshaft the said wheels may be disconnected from the shaft and may bereset at zero by means of the shaft.

A worm wheel 18 is secured to the inner end of each shaft, between theseries of number wheels and ill. adjacent arm 12 of the bracket, andeach worm wheel meshes with a worm 1 on a worm shaft 20, extendingparallel with the adjacent arm 12 of the bracket below the same;

Each worm shaft is provided with a bevel gear 21 intermediate its ends,and each of the bevel gears meshes with a similar gear 224m a stub shaft23, which is journalcd in an H-sliaped bearing bracket 2"!- securedbetween the arm 12 of the bracket 12-13.

Each of the stub shafts is provided with a second bevel gear 25 at itsinner end, and these gears mesh with a bevel gear 20 on the upper end ofa shaft journaled in the partition 8. The shaft above mentioned is inalinement with a shaft 27 journaled at l'lO its lower end in a stepbearing 28 at the axis of a crown gear 529, which is driven by p aflexible shaft 30 extending through the head of the body of the casingat the center thereof, and adapted to be connected with one of thewheels of the vehicle to drive the shaft and the crown gear.

The teeth of the crown gear mesh with the teeth of a gear wheel 31,which is keyed to a stub shaft 32, mounted in a bearing plate 33 securedwithin tie casing, and a collar 3+ is adjustably held on the stub shaftabove the bearing plate by means of a set screw The gear wheel 31 mesheswith a, gear wheel 36 on the shaft 27 before mentioned, and with asecond gear wheel 37 on a second stub shaft 38 journaled diametricallyopposite the shaft in a bearing plate 33 arranged in the samemanncr asthe plate The gear wheel 37 is keyed to the shaft below the bearingplate, and a second gear wheel 39 is keyed to the shaft above thebearing plate. This gear wheel 39, which is of larger size than the gearwheel 37, meshes with a similar gear wheel 40, on the shaft 27 above thegear wheel 36.

A gear wheel 41 is mounted on the shaft above the gear wheel 40 and isrigid therewith, the said gear wheel 41 being of larger size than thegear wheel 40. The gear wheel 41 meshes with a pinion l2 journaled onanother stub shaft 43, which is journaled between the stub shaft 38 andthe shaft 27, and is provided with a gear wheel 44 above the pinion; andrigid therewith, which meshes with a gear wheel 45 keyed to the stubshaft 46, which supports the bevel gear 26, the said stub shaft beingjournaled in the partition 8 and in alinement with the shaft 27 beforementioned.

The gear wheels 31, 36, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44. and 45 constitute areducing gear, for driving the odometers at the proper relative speedwith respect to the movement of the front wheel of the vehicle, and itwill be evident that when the crown gear 29 is driven, the bevel gear 26will be driven at a greatly reduced speed and will drive the worm shafts19, which in turn drive the odometers in synehronism.

The plate 2 before mentioned is provided with a slot or opening 47 ateach odometer, for permitting the odometer to be read, and the saidplate is also provided with a legend or label 48 adjacent to eachopening and above the same.

In the present instance fourteen odometers are shown, but in practicethere will be sixteen odometers. six odometers identified with thetires, four with the tires in use and two with the two extra tires, twoodometers with the oil and fuel supply, two with the packing of'thcdifferential and transmission, and two with the trip and thereof, forindicating the speed attained by the vehicle.

-In operation, the speedometer and the odometers or indicating devicesare driven in synchronism from the shaft 30, and the indicator 5 willindicate the speed attained by the vehicle. When a new tire is placed,the odometer pertaining to that particular tire is reset at zero, and.it will be evident that the said odometer will give the mileage made bythe said tire. lVhe-n the tire is removed temporarily, the odometerpertaining thereto is disconnected from the shaft 30, and is permittedto-remain idle until the tire is replaced.

If an extra tire is substituted for the tire removed the odometerpertaining to the extra tire will be connected with the drivin shaft andthe said odometer will record the mileage made by the extra tire.

As regards the four odometers devoted to signaling or indicating thenecessit for performing certain operations, these 0 ometers may ifdesired be provided with the 106 indicating or signal shutters shown anddescribed in my co-pending application, Serial No. 58,808, filed October30, 1915.

I claim:

1. A meter comprising a cylindricahcas- 10: ing, a U-shaped bracketdisposed within the casing, and securedat its opposite ends to the wallsof the. casing, said bracket havin laterally extending bearing lugs oneac side thereof. a power shaft disposed on each 110 side of saidbracketin said bearing lugs and provided with a 'series of gears, a -plu-'rality of odometers disposed within the casing on each side of saidbracket, the shafts of the odometers being )arallel and lie at rightangles to the power shafts and a gear wheel carried by the shaft of eachodometer and arranged to engage its correspouding gear on each of thepower shafts.

2. A meter comprising a cylindrical casing, a U-shnpcd bracket disposedwithin the casing and secured at its opposite ends to the walls of thecasing, said bracket having laterally extending bearing lugs on eachside thereof, a power shaft disposed on each side of said bracket insaid bearing lugs and provided with a series of gears, a plurality ofodometers disposed within the casing, on each side of said bracket, theshafts of the odometers being parallel and at right angles 0 to thepower shafts and a gear wheel carried end with a gear, a drive smart, agear on by the shaft of each odometer and arranged said drive shaftarranged to engage one of 1 'to engage its corresponding gear on eachthe gears on each stub shaft, a gear carried of the powershafts, anH-shaped bracket by each of. said power shafts and arranged secured tothe interior of said U-shaped to engage one of the gears on said stubbracket, a pair of stub shafts mounted for shafts.

revolution on said H-shaped bracket, each of said stub shafts beingprovided at each MARVIN SMITHEY.

